A Big Happy Family?
by Ultrawolfie
Summary: Halibel is on a mission... to befriend all the other espada. Will she succeed? Can she figure out what happened to her predecessor, Neliel? Only time will tell. It's Grimmjow's turn! Rated T for Grimmjow's language...
1. Prologue

**Another attempt at a one-shot Or on second thoughts, the content is more suitable for a short story. Ok fine, first chappie will be short. …You expecting me to say something else? Well, I own… chocolate. Which is disgusting anyway. *Gives chocolate to the first reviewer.* Go on, I'm sure you want it more than I do.**

It is time. Halibel is finally going to attempt the biggest challenge on her to-do list. –Attempt to befriend all of the espada- The key word here is "attempt". Halibel decided to take a day per espada and work her way up from the bottom.

"Where are you going Halibel-sama?" Sunsun asked her mistress as Halibel suddenly stood up with a determined look on her face and purposefully strided towards the door.

Halibel looked back and decided not to avoid the subject, perhaps her fraccion could help. "I'm going to start befriending the other espada, or at least try to. I'm still new here so I don't know anyone else personally."

This caught the attention of the squabbling Apache and Mila-Rose who quickly started paying attention as Sunsun nodded. "But Halibel-sama, I though you hated men?" Apache asked with a confused look on her face. Mila-Rose nodded in agreement. Sunsun realized that they made sense for once and also gave Halibel a questioning look.

Halibel sighed and sat down on the couch nearby. "Well ladies, even if I don't like men doesn't mean I shouldn't at least attempt to get along with them. If everyone here are enemies then it will make life quite difficult for us, but if we quickly gain allies, then we'll be more comfortable here. After all, I don't want to get my head hacked open by an ally or something like that."

"No-one here will ever be able to harm Halibel-sama like that for sure. Not if we're around!" Mila-Rose exclaimed with Apache nodding ferociously.

Halibel chuckled. "I appreciate it girls, but I'm still going to try. I'll take it slowly, one espada a day and work my way up to the top espada. I guess Yammy's up first."

Sunsun thought a bit then gave her advice. "I heard that Yammy's pretty simplistic, he just drags his feet over the whole place like a Neanderthal and eats a lot."

Halibel took this in and got up to leave, with a chorus of "good luck" from her loyal fraccion.

_To be continued_

**Ok, this is gonna be a short tale, each chapter for another espada, until Halibel reaches the top. Will she befriend them all or meet a tragic demise along the way dun dun du-n! Offers chocolate again, common, you know you want it. Oh, is there any specific scenes you wanna see happen between Halibel and the other espada. Pop me a review and I'll see what I can do. Just nothing completely ridiculous like feeding Grimmjow a bunch of catnip or something like that. I want to keep everyone in character here. *Waves chocolate again***

**Ultrawolfie out**


	2. Yammy Rialgo

**Welcome back. Just wanted to mention that some of my characters' names are spelt a little differently than the official ones because the officials couldn't make up their mind so I already got a little used to these.**

**Yammy Rialgo**

Halibel wasn't really sure how exactly she would go about with befriending Yammy but decided to just talk to him first at least once and decide where to go from there so right now, she's walking towards the dining room where some of the arrancar are eating their lunch now. It therefore is the most likely location for Yammy.

Just as Halibel opened the doors, she noticed that she was right because Yammy indeed was the first one in her sights due to his size. The other arrancar just looked at her in confusion since she _never_ ate with them, finding their immature and barbaric natures annoying.

Halibel walked to Yammy's table and sat down at it, to his confusion. He stoped eating for a second and looked up. "Eh, you're the new tercera girl arentcha? Why are you here, thought you didn't like it around here or something?" Yammy asked Halibel.

"Don't mind me, I just want to get to know the rest of the espada a little better, you can keep eating if you want." Halibel quickly stood up again and found some food for herself since Yammy's food was making her hungry, she then returned and sat down again. He grunted and continued eating.

"So… Yammy right? You're the decimal espada if I remember correctly. But your reiatsu seems higher than Aaroniero, Szayel and Zommari at least, why is that?" Halibel initiated the conversation.

Yammy looked up and grumbled, "Ulquiorra says I'm not good with analyzing the enemies and sensing reiatsu and stuff like that so I'm at the bottom, but the more I eat and rest without fighting the more my reiatsu builds up so it's pretty high now…"

Halibel frowned slightly, he wasn't lying. That much she could tell, but she was extremely good at reading people's faces and could see that there was something he wasn't telling her. "I see, that makes sense. You seem to get along well with Ulquiorra though, I don't really see how two of the espada are friends considering their personalities."

"Friends huh? Guess you could call it something like that, he always gets annoyed with me and stuff but never really tried to get rid of me. Yeah we all practically hate each other since everyone wanna move up the ranks of the espada so they'll gladly stab each other."

Halibel nodded, "I'll have to be careful of that, I received quite the unfriendly look from the fifth espada Nnoitra." She thought back to how the quinta sneered at her as if he had some kind of personal issue with her already, but she never saw him before though…

Yammy laughed and picked up the last of his food. "Yeah, careful around that bastard, word is that he and some other guy did something to the girl before you so watch your back or it'll get axed sooner or later." He stood up and left, having finished his meal.

Halibel sat back in her chair. This was quite interesting about a former girl and Nnoitra's reputation. She'll have to try and find out more about this. At least Yammy seemed pretty friendly in a way with his rough exterior. But he was still hiding something though, and Halibel prided herself in being able to find any information she needed so she refused to stop there. "I'll just have to talk to him later this afternoon, maybe if I have some food he'll listen to me."

She stood up and left the dining hall again, ignoring the stares of some arrancar who still couldn't get over the shock of the tercera espada eating with them.

In the halls Halibel was in deep though over her situation until she was rudely interrupted by something that felt like a maelstrom hitting her and she fell flat on her butt along with the other arrancar.

She looked up and saw that this arrancar was still a child, even though arrancar don't really age. The child was a girl with light green-blond hair and a small outfit. Her hollow mask was a helmet on her head with flames over the eye and one horn broken off.

The child quickly rubbed her head and looked up in anger. "Hey you! Why don't you watch where you're- oh you're not one of the usual assholes. Who are you lady?"

Halibel blinked, this girl was quite rude in comparison with the other numerous. Then again, she didn't seem to know that Halibel was one of the espada. "I'm tercera espada, Tia Halibel. And you are?"

The girl didn't seem to be fazed at all to know that she just knocked over an espada. "Oh the new espada, cool. Good that it's another girl. I'm Lilynette Gingerback, nice to meet you." The girl suddenly seemed to remember that she was in a hurry. "Oops sorry, I gotta go, see ya later." She quickly got up and ran off again.

Halibel stood up again and continued on her way back to her room. She quickly heard the loud voices of their fighting as she neared the area. It was a good thing that each espada had their own quarters, otherwise she'd have a lot of angry neighbours knocking down her door.

As she entered the room the noise quickly quieted down since her fraccion noticed her presence and looked at her. "How did it go Halibel-sama?" Apache asked.

"Good, it was easy to befriend him so that is not my current problem, I am more curious since he seems to be hiding something from me." Halibel relied.

Mila-Rose blinked in confusion. "Hiding something? What do you mean?"

Halibel closed her eyes, "I'm not sure, it's a gut feeling."

Sunsun nodded, as odd as it sounded, Halibel's gut has never let her down. "So what will you do now Halibel-sama?"

"First things first, to get his interest I'm probably going to need food so I need your help in the kitchen please. Then I'll decide from there. Let's go ladies." The three fraccion nodded and sonidoed with Halibel to the empty kitchen.

After a while, each one of them had made their own dish and put it in Halibel's basket. Halibel picked it up with a look of thanks and used pesquisa to search for Yammy's reiatsu. He seemed to be walking outside but somewhere inside the dome of Las Noches. Halibel then used sonido to find the nearest exit and went to an area not too far off from the direction Yammy was walking in so that the meeting looked like a coincidence.

She took out a slice of sandwich and opened her hollow jaws to eat it and sure enough, a short while later she saw Yammy walking nearer at a relaxed pace. He didn't seem surprised to see her though.

"So we meet again tercera, thought I smelled some food. You got some for me?" Yammy asked.

Halibel nodded and tossed him a pack of sandwiches. "You can call me Halibel if you want though." She then noticed a small dog following after Yammy. "Who's that little guy?"

Yammy shrugged, "Just a mutt that keeps following me around for some reason, it's not like I ever feed or pet him so I don't get why he won't find another buddie."

Halibel looked at him. "Perhaps he actually wants to be with you, you should be a little nicer with him at least. He seems like a really loyal fellow. Does he have a name?"

"Nah, like I said, I don't need him around so why would I go naming him?" Yammy replied uncaringly and chomped his sandwiches.

Halibel slightly frowned but decided to get her other mystery out of the way first. "Earlier we talked about your reiatsu level being higher than normal. It doesn't feel like you told me everything there…"

Yammy frowned in suspicion. "What's it to you?"

Halibel was surprised at the reaction. "Nothing, I'm just curious but if you really don't want to talk about it then we can leave the topic."

Yammy was quiet for a bit and then shrugged. "Guess you'll hear it sooner or later anyway. The reason my reiatsu builds up is because when I go into resurreccion, my power level change from decimal to cero espada so I'm actually the number zero."

Halibel was shocked, she didn't expect it to be something like this. Yammy? Cero? He didn't seem that strong at all, but she looked at his expression and realized that he wasn't lying. "I see that's quite surprising but it makes sense with the way your reiatsu is never constant. But then why do you hang around Ulquiorra if you're superior to him?"

Yammy hesitated, "I guess I just want to be his friend or something… Even though he always says that he doesn't want me around and ignores me."

Halibel's eyes softened then she looked at the dog. "Do you realize… your situation is quite similar to this guy. Both of you follow someone who doesn't want you around or care about you."

Yammy was quiet for a moment and looked at the dog again. Then he stood up "Been nice talking to ya but I gotta go now…" He started walking. Halibel nodded and watched him leave.

After a couple of steps Yammy looked back at the dog and after a while, he tossed his last sandwich at the dog and grinned. "Hey, you coming or not… Kuukapurro?"

The dog, newly named Kuukapurro, yipped excitedly and quickly devoured the sandwich. He then ran after his friend. Halibel watched this turn of events with a gentle smile.

**Awww I think this turned out well, especially the ending. Very well, next is Aaroniero Arrureurie, any suggestions? Please review and let me know how you like this so far or no cake!**

**Ultrawolfie out**


	3. Aaroniero Arrureurie

**I thought this should be the first one to finish, along with Halibel's wiki since these are the two stories closest to finishing and I can't work on the longer ideas when the shorter ones keep nagging at me.**

**Oh and for this chapter, it would probably help to remember this:**

"**bladida" (bold) – Aaroniero's deep voice**

"_bladida_**" (Just italics) – Aaroniero's high voice**

"Bladida" **(Normal) – Kaien's voice**

'_Bladida_' (**Just one inverted comma and italics) - Thinking**

**Aaroniero Arrureurie**

'_I didn't do that badly with Yammy when I think back on it. That could have been much more annoying if he acted like the brute he resembles…' _Halibel thought to herself while walking through the halls of Las Noches. She decided to head back to her room and hear what her fraccion had to say before moving on to the novena espada.

"Halibel-sama! You're fast at this as usual!" Apache was quick to respond to Halibel's presence in the room.

"Of course, you twit. This is Halibel-sama after all." Mila-Rose added without missing a beat.

Sunsun just sighed before looking at the espada. "Surely you didn't return just to listen to these two bicker. Did you need something Halibel-sama?" She noticed Apache and Mila-Rose tune in on the conversation from the background.

Halibel nodded at the quiet fraccion and replied, "Yes, Yammy was easier than I expected so I came to hear if you three had any insight into Aaroniero before I approach him."

"I heard that Aaroniero is the last one remaining from the original espada before Aizen took over and he used to be one of the strongest, despite being a Gillian." Mila-Rose said thoughtfully.

"That must have hurt his ego, to get knocked down the rankings like that." Apache muttered.

"But some of the numerous mentioned that Aaroniero still has the ability to gain strength from devouring hollows even though he's already an arrancar. I'm not sure if that is even possible…" Sunsun interjected.

"I wouldn't put anything past the espada, we have a lot of strange people among us after all… I don't even remember seeing Aaroniero's face as far as I recall. Being a Gillian, it is possible that he is not even human-looking." The shark empress added and thanked her fraccion for their help before turning around and leaving the room.

_In the tower of the Noveno espada…_

"_It seems that we have a guest…" _a high-pitched voice sounded, followed by a deep voice.

"**Indeed, from what I can tell, it seems to be the new Tercera who was chosen after Neliel's demise." **The mysterious figure looked down at Halibel from a tall tower while hiding his presence. To his surprise, Halibel suddenly stopped walking at looked straight up at him. **"I'm surprised that she noticed us from here. This one is extremely perceptive…"**

"_Then we should probably go introduce ourselves, since it would be rude to ignore her now." _The first voice sniggered. The figure jumped down to Halibel's level.

"Nice of you to come closer, I didn't feel like shouting at you. Halibel said coolly.

The masked figure raised his hand to remove his mask. "My name is Aaroniero Arrureurie, the Noveno espada." The mask was removed to reveal a serious faced man with spiky, dark purple hair.

Halibel nodded and lifted her hand for a greeting. Aaroniero hesitated before taking it in his own hand and Halibel's hand stiffened a bit before relaxing. '_That's odd, his hand felt strangely soft and flexible. It wasn't normal' _

"What brings you to my humble tower, Tercera? The view or the sunlight maybe?" Aaroniero asked with slight sarcasm as most of his tower is shrouded in darkness.

Halibel noticed the sarcasm but ignored it to reply, "I'm just getting to know my fellow espada since I'm new here, is that so strange?"

"Here, it is certainly puzzling. The only other espada who bothered trying this is Neliel and she quickly gave up when everyone gave her an attitude, especially Nnoitra." Aaroniero explained.

Halibel nodded at his explanation, "That makes sense. When you start getting attitudes, you wouldn't want to waste your time anymore. But I'm still curious since everyone seems to be hiding something under their exterior."

"Under their exterior huh? What a strangely convenient way to put it…" Aaroniero said with an amused expression.

"Why is that?"

"No it's nothing. Is there anything specific you wanted to ask me?" The man asked thoughtfully.

"I hadn't really thought about questions since I prefer to judge by your words and behavior instead. To be honest, I'm convinced that you're hiding something from me. Your hand felt different than a normal hand, you're wearing a mask even with your normal face, nobody can fear the sunlight that much to live in such a dark place and lastly, your reiatsu… feels like a shinigami." Halibel saw Aaroniero start at her words and felt a sense of satisfaction as this confirmed that she was at least close to the truth.

"How blunt… and perceptive, this new Tercera is something else indeed-" Aaroniero said to himself.

"Why are you talking to yourself, I'm in front of you." Halibel interrupted impatiently.

"Since you've already come this far, why don't I show you _**the truth…"**_Aaroniero's head started melting down while his voice distorted as he was speaking. Halibel's eyes slightly widened in shock as she looked at Aaroniero's head morphing into a glass tube filled with red liquid and two floating heads.

"Well… this isn't exactly what I expected. I thought you were a shinigami with hollow powers like those Vizards hiding on earth or something like that." Halibel said with an amused expression after the shock wore off.

"**Well this is new. People usually react with more disgust when they see my face." **The deep voice said and chuckled.

"I've… seen stranger things. Living in Hueco Mundo has shown me not to judge a hollow by its mask." She pulled her own collar down a bit to show her own mask's frightening appearance. "I've lost count of the times other hollow and arrancar flinched at my mask, even my own fraccion… That's why I eventually started keeping it covered." The blonde woman explained.

"_Hmmm yes, I guess that makes sense and gives us something in common. As for the shinigami thing, it was an interesting guess but real reason is that we have the ability of endless evolution. We devoured a hollow that had absorbed a shinigami in return and gained their powers." _The whiny voice filled alibel in.

"Devoured? How exactly, if I may ask. I don't see an opening in that tube and I don't recall you ever drinking Aizen's tea… not that I blame you. That tea is completely tasteless." Halibel sighed and Aaroniero sweatdropped at this before responding by removing his glove to reveal the tentacle mouth. "I suppose that answers my question… Thank you for giving me your time then"

"**It was our pleasure, it is not often that we get to have a normal conversation with another espada so be sure to visit again." **Aaroniero greeted her.

"See you another time then, Aaroniero Arrureurie." Halibel departed from the Novena tower and started walking along a path, deep in thought…

'_I can't believe I touched that hand…'_

_To be continued…_

**I wasn't sure how to end this chapter… Aaroniero is difficult to interpret. This brings us to Szayel-Aporro Grantz then. Please review with suggestions if you have any ideas of what Halibel should discuss with Szayel-Aporro. Until next time **

**Ultrawolfie out!**


	4. Szayel-Aporro Grantz

**I started writing this immediately after the previous chapter, not often that I'm so fired up to make some progress. I was hoping for a little more reviews but oh well, thank you very much to the two who reviewed. You made my day!**

**Szayel-Aporro Grantz**

Halibel was feeling proud of her progress so far so the next morning, she immediately headed through the halls to the area of the infamous Octava espada. The strange part about him was that not even her fraccion knew of any precise information on him. Everything is speculation and most likely exaggerated rumors.

The fact that her girls, well two of them, are gossip queens and still could not extract anything useful was actually worrying by itself.

As Halibel strolled through the hallways, she heard the patter of feet on the floor as she approached the corner and she slowed down, remembering a previous experience. As she expected, Lilynette came barreling around the corner and immediately dragged her heels on the floor in an attempt to slow down when she spotted the Tercera.

"Hey Halibel-sama, I sure didn't expect to find you here off all places. Which way are you heading?" Lilynette jabbered but she blanched in fright as soon as Halibel pointed her finger in the direction of the Octava's quarters. "Wait what? You can't go there, it doesn't matter what the reason is or if you're just using it as a short cut or something. Nobody walks through the halls of Szayel-Aporro's domain!"

"Why not? I'm just going to talk to him?" Halibel asked in confusion.

"That guy's a madman. The odds of even making it to his main laboratory are already minimal. All you hear is stories of numeros and fraccion who went to take him a message and were never seen again." Lilynette quickly made clear.

"Does he kill them if they're in his area? That sounds oddly territorial for an espada…" The blonde mused.

"Kill? No, I doubt that. He's mostly a scientist so it's probably experiments and stuff. The other problem is that his hallways are covered in traps and random corridors so it's easy to get lost. It would suck if you vanished like the rest." Lilynette said sadly.

"Relax Lilynette, I'm the Tercera Espada. I'm not going to let the Octava espada catch me in one of his petty traps. I'll be fine. If worst comes to worst, I'll just destroy the wall until I'm out." Halibel reassured her.

"That's what Neliel-sama thought… Anyway, bust the walls? Aizen's not gonna like that but I'd personally love it if you did that!" Lilynette exclaimed. "Good luck then Halibel-sama. I'm looking forward to hearing some destruction." She ran off with a wave.

"Heh, no guarantees." Halibel continued her walk until she reached the border of Szayel-Aporro's domain and paused at the edge. _'This place does have quite ominous stories… I wonder if this is really the brightest idea. No, I'm already this far. No point in turning back now.' _She took deep breath and entered the domain of Doctor Szayel-Aporro Grantz.

_A few hours later_

'_I believe I'm lost.' _Halibel thought to herself as she reached yet another intersection with no clue of which side is better. Her patience with the scientist was starting to wear thin by now. She was convinced that Szayel was probably watching everything on one of his monitors so blonde decided to test her theory.

"Szayel-Aporro! If you're listening, I want an immediate short cut to where you are right now. I've played your game but I don't have any more time for this." Halibel paused to wait for any reaction. There was none. "All right then. I didn't want to have to do this but you leave me no choice. The walls are irritating me." She reached back to unsheathe Tiburon, but suddenly a doorway opened. _'Heh, the bluff seems to have worked.'_

The shark empress lowered her hand and entered the doorway. After a minute's walk she came into a large office with another opening to Szayel's pride and joy, his laboratory.

"Well, look who I have the honor of receiving a visit from today. You're the newest espada I believe, Neliel's replacement." He chuckled while pushing up his glasses.

Halibel felt uneasy at his words, there seemed to be more to them than it sounded. "What do you think you're doing, playing games with an espada higher ranked than you?"

"Simply a fickle habit of mine. It's not every day that I'm visited by another espada. It's usually just a couple of scampering fraccion, numerous or even my brother, nobody worth mentioning." He said in a snide tone.

"Your brother isn't worth mentioning? Or rather, since when do arrancar have family? Did you band together as hollows?" Halibel asked feeling puzzled at his words.

"Why, no. It is usually just a formality among arrancar but Ylforte happens to be my real brother. We still remember enough of our lives to recall that little fact. Not that he's very happy with my though." Szayel said thoughtfully.

The blonde frowned at this, "I remember that name, he's one of the fraccion if my memory's not failing me. Is he jealous of your power or something?"

"Not at all, he accepts it as a fact of life that I'm better than him. His annoyance is probably due to the fact that it was a lab accident of mine that caused our deaths. Really… such a fickle thing to hold a grudge over, wouldn't you agree?" Szayel asked Halibel.

"It's true that it is a waste of time to hold grudges as we are now but I would probably be annoyed too." Halibel said darkly.

"I wonder… does the Tercera recall her own life? Maybe there is a grudge or two I could help you clear up since I have a little experience in that subject." Szayel suggested.

These words seemed to link up with Halibel's earlier unease but she didn't want to make any accusations yet. "I'd ask what you meant but I have a feeling you'll tiptoe around the question with your words."

Szayel's smile widened slightly, "How… perceptive of you. The other espada are usually blunter. Hopefully you'll last longer than Neliel if we get along nicely."

'_Neliel… this is the third espada to mention her. Just what happened to her? Szayel seems to know more than the other two.' _Halibel thought to herself before a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Szayel-Aporro-sama! Szayel-Aporro-sama!" A bouncing figure came through one of the doorways. "Medazeppi is eating Verona! Help us!"

Szayel barely spared his fraccion a glance, "Lumina huh? I can't really blame Medazeppi, Verona happens to be cherry-flavored. I'll make a new one later and scold Medazeppi so leave us." He looked back at the slightly blanching Tercera. "Some of my fraccion are edible, what's your favorite flavor?"

"I'll pass, thank you very much." The quick reply came.

"Pity, I work hard on the flavors but the fraccion still have their uses." Szayel said matter-of-factly.

"You care so little for your subordinates…?" Halibel quietly asked, slight fury in her voice. Szayel noticed the threatening undertone and took a slight step back before regaining control of his legs.

"Each to his, or her, own I suppose. We may disagree on some subjects but Hueco-Mundo is a cruel world. You'd do well to learn that as soon as possible, especially if you want to the other espada to take you seriously." Szayel informed Halibel.

"I'll keep that in mind as long as you keep in mind that my fraccion are not to be trifled with. If one of them even has a hair out of place after approaching your domain, you will answer to me… and I will destroy you." Halibel stated.

Szayel felt cold sweat run down the back of his neck. "Noted." He watched the Tercera turn around and start walking, before pausing and turning back.

Halibel recalled something that Apache mentioned in one of the rumors surrounding Szayel-Aporro and decided to test this theory. "Where is your hollow hole?"

Szayel's cheeks quickly reddened in anger.

"That's none of your business!"

_To be continued…_

**Hmm, good to see that I managed to keep this ball rolling. Let's see if can keep up with the pace I'm writing at now. It was easier to write Szayel than Yammy and Aaroniero, probably since he was around for much longer than they were in my point of view. Next is Zommari then and I already have his chapter written mostly, until next time!**

**Ultrawolfie out! **


	5. Zommari Leroux

**Sorry if this chapter is not as good. I dislike Zommari and don't know much of his personality, other than being very prideful and the "BANZAI AIZEN-SAMA!" But I'll try to do him a little justice. I also changed the pairing to Halibel and Espada since it will be hard to do any romance other than hints or slight moments. After comparing to some excellent fanfiction, I noticed that I seem to depend a lot on dialogue instead of describing the background and situation so I tried fixing that a bit in this chapter.**

**Zommari Leroux**

"Szayel-Aporro sounds like such a freak!" Apache's voice rang out, interrupting Halibel's nap. She remembered telling her fraccion about her day the previous night and they immediately took a dislike to Szayel.

"Careful where you go screaming that, Apache. I may have threatened Szayel but I still have no guarantees that he will leave you alone if he is insulted." Halibel warned the horned fraccion who nodded with a slight sulk.

"Shouldn't he know better than to disregard your words, Halibel-sama?" Sunsun asked carefully.

"He should, but I strongly doubt that the Primera or Segunda would have bothered with the previous Tercera, which only leaves the lower ranked espada. Clearly our co-workers are bolder than they seem." Halibel informed the three girls.

"Bold… or just plain power-hungry?" Mila-Rose murmured.

Halibel stood up while staring into space in the white lounge of her tower. Even the couches were white but at least some of the pillows in the room were navy, otherwise the lack of color would drive anyone mad.

The three fraccion stared at her for a moment before continuing another conversation between them, one which quickly turned to squabbling. The noise level in the Tercera tower rose while Halibel was brought back to reality and slowly stepped through her doorway. She was deep in thought, wondering how to handle Zommari since he seemed more of an enigma than the previous espada.

The blonde decided to head to head to the lunch hall and get something to drink first. As she walked through the hallways, a familiar noise was present as she approached the dining room. The numerous were jovial in their conversations, only hesitating when an espada entered the room but quickly returning to their normal state.

While most espada kept to their towers and had the fraccion bring food, those without fraccion or reservations would come themselves. This usually included Yammy, Zommari, Grimmjow and Nnoitra. Fortunately Nnoitra wasn't there since Halibel wasn't feeling up for his idiocy.

As she tapped some water into a glass she noticed that Zommari was indeed present, sitting in a deserted corner at the back of the hall. He seemed to be lost in some sort of meditation with an already empty plate in front of him.

Halibel picked up her glass and moved to a chair at his table, "It's a bit noisy here for a meditation isn't it?"

At first it seemed like he didn't hear her, until his response came, "That's why I like it here Tercera-sama."

"Halibel is fine. Isn't the noise disruptive?" Halibel asked.

"It helps me perfect my concentration and inner calm. If I am able to cancel out all of the noise then my focus is improved, Halibel-sama." Zommari explained without opening his eye or changing his posture.

"I see…"

"Do you have a query for me Halibel-sama? I can't comprehend any reason for you to approach me otherwise." His monotonous voice came.

"Not a specific one. I'm just trying to get to know my fellow espada better since we'll be working together in the future." Halibel told him.

"That is a noble quest… and a futile one."

"How so?"

"We will be entering war. There is no guarantee that that we will be working together. Most likely, Aizen-sama will give every espada their own vital duty to complete. We are all important pieces of our Lord's puzzle and to fully complete the puzzle, we cannot all be attached to each other with emotions and memories getting in the way. There is only our duty to Aizen-sama." Zommari said and finally opened his eyes.

"That is a rather pessimistic way to look at things isn't it?" Halibel queried.

"There is no optimist or pessimist, there is only the realist. Thank you for talking to me but I must go now. Until next time, Halibel-sama." Zommari said before standing up to leave. He was paused when Halibel grabbed his sleeve.

"You say that we are like a puzzle and that Aizen-sama will need us all?" The blonde comfirmed.

Zommari nodded, "Yes, that is correct."

Halibel looked down for a moment before making eye contact again, "I don't think that comparison works, suggesting that we are all vital to Aizen-sama… I think we are more like pieces on a chess board, everyone working together towards an ultimate goal."

Zommari's eyes showed slight confusion, "Yes, that works as well but I don't see the difference."

"In a puzzle all the pieces are vital but during chess… they can be sacrificed."

"…Or promoted." Zommari responded.

"Some usually has to be sacrificed for others to be promoted. Those who has to clear the way." The blonde explained, thinking about her sacrificial aspect of death. "In the end, only the King can never be sacrificed."

Zommari was silent for a moment, "I'll keep that in mind." He turned around, pulling his sleeve out of Halibel's grip and started walking again before murmuring something else that was picked up by the Shark Empress' sharp ears.

"I intend to be promoted. Aizen-sama will not abandon us."

**Hope I handled that alright, Zommari is hard to get in character. Please review to say what you thought of the chapter and if my writing style needs any work. I'd like to improve during the shorter stories in case I want to start up longer ones again. Next is Grimmjow, this ought to be fun. Until next time…**

**Ultrawolfie out!**


	6. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez

**Almost halfway, thank you for your reviews so far. They really make me happy, there's nothing I love more than waking up the next morning to see what reviews I have (I'm in a different time zone so most reviews usually come while I'm asleep). This chapter was harder than the previous since I felt pressured that I had to do Grimmjow justice since it seems like you have high expectations for him and he is the most popular after all…**

**Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez**

'_Grimmjow huh? I get the feeling this is going to be a difficult one'. _Halibel thought while lying on one of the couches in her quarters. Her fraccion were out, subtly gaining information from Grimmjow's fraccion since he had five and they have big mouths.

All she knew so far was that he always seemed to be brooding over something and constantly had a frown on his face. He's also more brash and aggressive, having earned the aspect of destruction from Aizen.

He was also similar to Nnoitra in enjoying battles but they apparently have a slightly different agenda as their reason for fighting. The best way to get his attention is probably…

"Halibel-sama! We're back." Her three fraccion entered the room and Halibel was surprised that she didn't hear them coming sooner since they were anything but quiet.

"You're back already? Did you gather anything useful?" Halibel asked them.

"I'm not sure if this information will be useful to Halibel-sama but the one mutual fact that we gathered from all of Grimmjow's fraccion was that he wants to be the king. This supports his dedication to fighting since he's constantly aiming to become stronger, rather than being happy where he is." Sunsun informed her mistress and Apache continued.

"This is probably why he is more honest than the other espada. It goes against his pride to cheat others out of their position. He wants to kill others fair and square so that he never doubts his strength." Apache suggested afterwards.

"I see. I suppose the best way to get his attention would be a direct challenge then, even though I don't like fighting for fun." Halibel mused.

"We could challenge him for you Halibel-sama" Mila-Rose stated and the other two nodded their agreement.

"No, it's best if I do this personally. Grimmjow is not to be underestimated." The blonde stood up and left the room while her fraccion looked at each other.

Near the quarters of the Sexta espada, Halibel found herself in front of two fraccion. The first had most of his head and half of his face covered in a strange hat and mask structure, he also had a grim expression and dark hair. The second man's face looked slightly familiar and he had long blonde hair with a horn helmet on top of his head.

"You are the Tercera espada I believe? "My name is Shawlong Qufang and this is-" The dark haired man started but was interrupted by Halibel.

"Ylforte Grantz right? I thought the face looked familiar."

"You know me? Was my mad little brother gossiping again or something?" Ylforte asked in confusion.

"…He mentioned you when I talked to him the other day. You two are part of Grimmjow's fraccion then?" Halibel asked.

The two men looked at each other then nodded at her. "Yes, Sexta espada, Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez is our King."

'_Seems like they are also slightly fanatical in following their master… I suppose I can't judge since my ladies are very similar.' _The shark empress thought to herself then looked at Shawlong. "Where is the Sexta now? I'd like to speak to him."

"Grimmjow-sama is in the battle arena fighting some foolish numeros that challenged him. I should warn you though; he's not the friendliest person to have a chat with." Shawlong informed the Tercera.

"I see, thank you for your input. I'll be going now." Halibel nodded her greeting to the fraccion and disappeared with a sonido.

"…It's rare for the other espada to be this civil to the fraccion of others…" Shawlong murmured.

Ylforte nodded, "Yeah, she's a lot like Neliel-sama isn't she? Just more reserved though. I wonder what Grimmjow-sama will think of another woman, he was pretty upset after Neliel-sama's disappearance-"

"Hush now, Ylforte! We agreed not to speak of her anymore."

_At one of Las Noches' battle arenas_

A large cloud of dust towered over the arena, concealing all the contestants from sight. All that could be heard was the furious clashing of zanpakuto, or rather, one zanpakuto battering the other ruthlessly.

As Halibel stepped closer, she could sense the reiatsu of Grimmjow and another weaker arrancar inside the dust cloud. When the dust cleared it was obvious that Grimmjow had the clear advantage. He could finish the battle at any given moment and was obviously just playing around with his opponent.

'_Almost like a cat playing with a mouse…' _Halibel mused.

It seemed that Grimmjow noticed her because he suddenly gave one shattering blow that smashed through the numeros' zanpakuto and hierro. A spray of blood was seen as the arrancar collapsed but Halibel noticed that it wasn't fatal. Grimmjow was just teaching the guy a lesson, not trying to kill him.

"Tch, go play with your other buddies now! Just because your resurreccion is some pussy tiger doesn't make you stronger than a panther. If I hear you claiming shit like this again, I WILL kill you without a second thought." Grimmjow barked at the other arrancar who nodded with a frightened expression.

"Grimmjow right? That was a good battle."

"It was a crap fight. I wasn't even close to releasing. The only espada that actually wants to fight me is Nnoitra but he pisses me off with his bragging." Grimmjow said gruffly.

"He really doesn't seem well liked here…" Halibel said.

"'Course not! He's a backstabbing son of a bitch, that's what! Nobody will ever trust him near them. After what he did to Nelie- Why are you even here anyway?" Grimmjow stopped mid sentence.

"I just wanted to talk, to get to know the other espada better." Halibel explained. _'Another mention of Neliel? This one seems more personal though…'_

"You're wasting your time. I don't care about stupid crap like being buddies or anything. I'm going to become stronger than all of you anyway. And you'll also be wasting your time with the damn Quinta." Grimmjow stated and turned around to leave.

"Will you talk if I fight you?"

The Sexta stopped in place, as if considering it, then he suddenly turned around drawing his zanpakuto in the process and charged at the Tercera without a warning. She was quick to grab the blade with her hand; her hierro was still strong enough for this.

"I'll take that as a yes." Halibel muttered and Grimmjow's insane grin widened. She reached back and drew her zanpakuto with a flourish.

"Eh? That blade is longer than the sheath?" Grimmjow noted in confusion.

"The sheath is a storage compartment on the inside. The blade is too broad to carry at my hip with comfort." The blonde explained.

"Whatever, that doesn't matter right now. Let's do this!" He wrenched his zanpakuto from Halibel's grip and swung again, meeting her blade in a clash that released sparks every time their blades made contact. This was a sign of the power in their swings.

Soon the ground under them started to crumble and Grimmjow realized that he was being pushed back while losing his footing at the same time. _'She's strong… and she's only fighting with one hand, easily switching her sword between her hands instead of using both. Then I'll just try…' _

The blue-haired arrancar jumped backwards and started charging a cero in his hand. The blonde just looked at him as if she was waiting for him to make his move first. He noticed her reiatsu rising slightly but couldn't see any cero charging. Then he released the crimson beam of reiatsu from his hand.

Halibel looked at the beam coming her way and opened her mouth with the jaws of her hollow mask also opening a little, while she pulled down her collar with her left hand. Her own yellow cero shot out of her mouth in a much wider beam.

Grimmjow's eyes widened in shock, '_That's just like-'_

When the two hit each other in a massive orange blast, the red was neutralized and the yellow split apart in a V pattern.

"Looks like our cero strength is equal even though yours was much wider…" _'If she concentrated her cero more, it would easily overpower mine.' _Grimmjow started to feel fear for the first time in a while. Not even Nnoitra or Ulquiorra scared him, even though they were stronger.

Suddenly the blonde appeared right in front of him and put her blade against his neck before he could react, drawing a trickle of blood. _'Shit! She's fast.'_

"You lose." Her voice came.

"Dammit… Is the power gap this big?" Grimmjow muttered.

"Why didn't you release? Surely you knew I was stronger?" Halibel asked him.

He just looked away with an irritated expression, "So what? Cuatro and up can't release here right? It's no fun if both opponents can't fight at full strength. But I'll take you on outside the dome any day and it won't end like this." Grimmjow stated.

"I see…" Halibel removed her blade and put it back in its sheathe. "And now your part of the deal, a fight for a talk."

"I don't remember agreeing to that-" Grimmjow started to protest but was quickly silenced by a cold glare from Halibel. "Fine then. What do you wanna know?"

"Just a bit of everything. I heard that you were the first espada Aizen recruited? Is that true?" She asked.

"Yup, arrancar number twelve, Grimmjow, at your service." He said with an exaggerated bow. Halibel just sighed at this.

"So what makes you so eager to fight everyone? I know everyone here's pretty battle hungry but you seem to have a more personal reason." She asked the Sexta.

He snorted at this, "Isn't it obvious? I want to be the king; I hate losing to other bastards. To be stronger than Nnoitra and Ulquiorra and Aizen-"

"I don't buy that for a second. It's obvious that this reply falls flat every time you use it. There's no drive behind it." Halibel interrupted him. "Isn't it just Nnoitra? I can taste your bloodlust when you say his name."

"Tch, so what if he's a son of a bitch. Of course I want to kick his ass more than others." Grimmjow just barked.

"And what about Neliel?" She asked and saw Grimmjow's face contort in surprise, then suspicion.

"What the hell do you know of Neliel?"

"Nothing, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me since you seem close."

Grimmjow frowned, "What gives you that idea?"

"Your reaction to her name." Halibel stated.

"All you need to know is that her name is Neliel Tu Oderschvank and that the fucking Quinta was the one who did her in, like the coward he is." Grimmjow finally said.

"Coward?"

"She was Tercera and he was Octava at the time. There's no way he was stronger than Nel…" The Sexta trailed off.

"I see… what about Szayel-Aporro?" Halibel asked carefully since the Octava seemed to have a connection to Neliel.

He just frowned in confusion, "Aporro? What about him?"

"Never mind." _I'm sure he was involved but Grimmjow's not lying either so either he's telling the truth or he believes he is.'_

"Are we done yet or are you going to scramble through my personality like Aporro does with his fraccion's innards?" Grimmjow asked impatiently.

"Oh, yes. I suppose that's it for now. Thank you for speaking with me." Halibel nodded her gratitude.

"No problem I guess, it was a fun fight. I'll acknowledge that you're a pretty strong one Tercera." He grinned at her and started walking with a quick wave.

"Was she your mate? Or is that 'girlfriend'…?" Halibel quickly asked before he was out of hearing distance.

Grimmjow paused for a moment, then without responding he just continued walking.

_To be continued…_

**I hope I didn't disappoint here. I won't be at home for the next couple of days so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out. Nnoitra is next; finally it's time to solve the little side mystery case of Neliel. I wasn't even planning on having Neliel's mystery involved in this story. It just happened and fit nicely haha. Until next time…**

**Ultrawolfie out!**


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